why late at night in the u.s. does ilm get all yessed out

sometimes my favorite yes is Drama yes, and I wish they had leaned more into that era a decade ago when that was the lineup, with a ringer on vox, tho presumably even trevor horn realized that was a mistake as he re-recorded the vocals himself later

and I get that trevor horn was never going to tour the countryside singing in yes for funsies, but it might have been cool to somehow keep him on as the brian wilson and have a bruce johnston to play the county fair or whatever

anyways steve howe's yes is fine I guess, it sounds kind of like yes, I admire that they are still bothering to write new music at least

I really like the cover, I think some of Dean's newer work looks different because it doesn't have the same textured detail? I didn't like his new version of a Uriah Heep album I bought recently, it wasn't an improvement and I wonder why he changed it?

did roger dean do that art because it looks like someone did some fake dean-inspired work

song is surprisingly not horrible but it's not good either ('find my place in the jewel collective' no)

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, March 10, 2023 9:55 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i want to believe he's singing about the jeweled antler collective

Looks like someone hipped Doug to the Todmobile version of Awaken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zVT2SNjM44

This might be the worst Dean cover

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2e/Asia_-_Omega_%282010%29_front_cover.jpg

lol yeah c'mon roger dean, have we polled dean covers? was pretty unassailable for at least three decades right?

Relayer is my favorite and Dean's favorite too

Whose idea was it to put a butt on the cover of going for the one

its stupid that steve jon and rick arent touring together with some amazing drummer before they all kick the bucket

hipignosis! xpost

Topographic oceans cover is my favorite

my favorite yes cover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13HWa1ssYl8

The Anderson/Rabin/Wakeman band was pretty good at least. Too bad they didn’t do a studio album.

Maybe I'm feeling particularly uncharitable but that new song made my brain bleed.

Listening to Magnification, an album I maintain is underrated, as a palate cleanser.

I CAN FEEL NO SENZS OF MEASURE

One down, one to go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAP_LwJOAQM

Whoa!

This is kinda mad.

Jon "It’s amazing to me. I don't know if you know the story but, these wonderful musicians, I met them a week ago, and we've been rehearsing for six days and this is our first show. I can't believe how good these guys are!"

The band geeks are these YT musicians that do lots of proggy covers and suchlike, pretty good show!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g62gVU9A8fU

Maybe we can get two different warring factions of Yes touring again!

they sound pretty good! better than the current Yes for sure. pretty tough setlist they're tackling too.

there are actually a few really talented prog cover bands out there...typically they start writing original music at some point

Jon with live karaoke. But he sounds decent , i.e. the “sharp distance how can the wind with so very round me” part of “heart”
(More Tambourine)

So so far from being karaoke imho. Band sounds powerful & committed. Jon on fabulous form. Fair brought a tear to the eye!

A friend was sniffy and said, 'They're playing them a little too fast.' But I think he might be right in some cases.

Jon + buncha randos >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> anything that has called itself Yes for the past 30 years

Agree, Jon and some School of Rock kids are more fun to listen to than the cadaverous Yes of recent years.

Fantastic!!

since covid i haven't been checking the listings, but the "space at westbury" is just a couple miles from me. reconverted movie theater. i would have enjoyed that.

Seems they've been swopping out Ritual for Gates of Delerium at some gigs too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtoY3PBOVCA

Jon's range is impressively intact -- I guess being an "uptight vegetarian" (as per the RS Record Guide) worked out pretty well for him. And while the band's energy is surely in part down to "holy crap, we're playing Yes songs with Jon Anderson!", when was the last time any lineup of Yes played with that degree of enthusiasm?

yeah I'd be way more enthusiastic about seeing these guys rather than the actual Yes - I mean it's basically the Yessongs setlist + a few other epics, played nearly as well as the classic band did, idk what else you could ask for in 2023. dig how much fun these guys are having on stage too - I always disliked how some prog bands were content to just sit perfectly still; maybe it makes more sense for music that's more brooding and dark like King Crimson but Yes at their best are like a rollercoaster, they should be rocking the fuck out. Gentle Giant were real good at that too.

i would buy tix for this in a heartbeat

I enjoyed the Band Geek channel during lockdown especially. Like a lot of Yes and Rush covers on YT they had a great female singer. Not to derail, there's a fantastic version of 'Behind The Lines' that I watched a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsJKxTDza60

listening to a Battles album rn and I forgot that Jon Anderson is actually on it! god I love him

Just finished the Anderson show. It's supposed to be uncool to wear a t-shirt of the band you're seeing when you go to a show, so how uncool is it to wear a t-shirt of the band you're *in* when performing a show?

first song on the new one has starcastle vibes, in a good way? so much more promising immediate first impression than the first two records with davison -- more like the better stuff he recorded with glass hammer. very little downes going on, but billy is doing a solid chris squire (RIP!), and this new drummer swings harder than alan white (RIP!!) had for a long time. all morbid sentiment notwithstanding, maybe overall on par with fly from here / magnification / the ladder? "all connected" does seem to be dragging on a bit though, and now we're confronted with a second consecutive nine-minute song, "luminosity", which sounds like a demo for the frozen 3 soundtrack, more to be endured, to prove one's unconditional devotion to past epics, than enjoyed for whatever it's trying to do. seven minutes into this i'm ready to throw in the towel. this album so far has been mostly appalling if i'm being honest, but thank god it exists! let's keep rolling to the next song, the unpromisingly titled "living out their dream". this seems to be some kind of boogie. and howe's singing? is there something wrong with my EQ levels? my speakers? who let them release this? what do they think when they listen to the yes album? it's almost over. twenty seconds till the title track, the longest yes song since the closer on talk (not counting the "fly from here" suite). okay, i could be beaten down, but this is more like it? steve howe out in the desert, take that william tyler? just give me one guys for the yes favorite playlist. it's been a long time since you forced benoit out, for what? these three albums? just give me one legit jam. two minutes into "mirror to the sky" now, twelve to go, and so far so good. three minutes in, and vocals begin, and it still sounds like a real yes song? there's some tough midtempo noodle sledding minutes say four through six, but i'm still here for it, then we're back into "shoot high aim low" territory and ponderous soundscapes that (again, maybe i'm beaten down by all this?) somehow work? it's possible this song, at long last, is the first keeper of the davison run? i almost don't want to listen to the final song, and spoil the effect, but of course i will, and it somewhat does, though it might be the third best song on the album (and points for uncanny 'are you talking to me?' proleptic lyrics: "not lost on me, how bittersweet the mockery of irony")? i don't know if i have the strength to listen to the three "bonus tracks"

much respsect for giving it a go. I'm trying it now, first two tracks were fine and yeah Billy is replicating Squire's bass tone, though maybe it's more like Squire with arthritis. wouldn't say it's as good as the better Glass Hammer stuff with Davison though, I always thought some of that could have been a theoretical follow up to Going for the One. as you mentioned it's much more Starcastle.
still those two are better than anything on the last two albums. "Luminosity" took me right out of it though. and "Living Out Their Dream"...what is going on with the vocals there? but the epic is kinda good! god, I wish all the tempos were like...20% faster.

I agree though Mirror to the Sky (the song) I think is good enough to be buried in some 2 hour Yes deep cut playlist featuring like, the best stuff from Keys and Magnification

also I braved the 3 bonus tracks and they're...kind of decent? some nice playing from Howe and "Unknown Place" even has a sweet little jam session in the middle. they're all a bit more pop oriented than the stuff on the first disc. again, all these tempos need to be a lot faster, that would make some of those guitar runs actually kind of exciting

so yeah I guess if you cut out Luminosity and Dream you'd have an ok 50 minute album, or at least something that I think would make a pretty good Starcastle reunion

i wish it weren't so but davison just doesn't sound like he believes in the metaphysical like jon anderson always has, and trevor horn, trevor rabin, and benoit david could all credibly approach. we have heaven! tell the moondog, tell the march hare!

You guys must really love yes to give them a chance in 2023. Beyond my ken. Cheers

ditto

I have posted in this thread about 4000 times so yeah I’d say

if it's a post about ween or soul coughing or end-stage yes, i know it's our best beloved frogbs

#frogs

this album def isn't terrible like Heaven and Earth, but it wasn't very memorable after my first listen today. but I was very mildly surprised not to hate it.

What do you mean end stage, this band’s kicking around another 30 years

<3

gave it another listen today and my opinion holds: it's not offensive, but it kind of went in one ear and out the other. at least there weren't any songs I skipped though.

Thinking about the recent Peter Gabriel setlists, and imagining the probable unlikelihood of Jon Anderson doing a solo show where the earliest song he performs is from 1977.